A Message From Our Steering Committee Co-Chairs
Dear Friends of the Coalition,
We’re pleased to share the Civic Coalition to Save Lives 2025 Annual Update, Sustaining the System that Saves Lives. We’re releasing it at the close of National Gun Violence Awareness Month, a fitting moment to reflect on what Philadelphia has achieved through coordinated, evidence-based intervention: 222 homicides in 2025, the fewest since 1966 and a 60% decline from the 2021 peak. That progress belongs to the city’s leaders, frontline organizations and the credible messengers doing this work every day.
We also want to share an important update about our own organization. David Brown will move on from his role as executive director of the Coalition, effective July 1, and return full time to Temple University as the university’s newly appointed executive director of community impact and civic engagement. Since October 2024, David has served simultaneously as the Coalition’s executive director and as assistant dean at Temple, and the demands of dual leadership roles have only grown.
This is a natural moment for both organizations. The timing aligns with the Coalition’s sharpened focus on championing evidence-based intervention as a core public safety strategy, and with new opportunities at Temple under President John Fry. Importantly, David will remain actively engaged in this work through his continued service on the Gun Violence Intervention Coordination Center (GVICC) Board. The Coalition’s work continues without interruption. Going forward, our focus will be to:
- Champion evidence-based intervention as the most effective near-term strategy to reduce gun violence
- Support alignment across partners
- Help strengthen the infrastructure and sustained commitment needed to make this work durable
We are deeply grateful for David’s leadership and tireless commitment, and glad his connection to this work continues. We are working with a small group of leaders to help inform the next phase of the Coalition’s structure. To ensure continuity in the interim, we have asked Martin Alfaro to serve as the point of contact for the Coalition. He can be reached at malfaro@savephillylives.org.
Philadelphia’s progress this year is real and historic. It is also fragile, and it depends on the kind of sustained civic commitment this transition reflects. As we mark Gun Violence Awareness Month, that commitment matters more than ever. Thank you for being part of this effort. We invite you to read the full report at savephillylives.org and join us in making sure Philadelphia doesn’t let up.
With gratitude,
Pedro A. Ramos, Esq.
President & CEO, The Philadelphia Foundation
Co-Chair, Steering Committee
Shawn McCaney
Executive Director, William Penn Foundation
Co-Chair, Steering Committee
A Message from David Brown
After more than a year and a half of deeply meaningful work, I am stepping down as executive director of the Coalition to take on a new role at Temple University, where I have been appointed executive director of community impact and civic engagement.
Leaving is not easy. Not because transitions ever are, but because the urgent, necessary work of reducing gun violence in Philadelphia genuinely matters. Every meeting, every conversation, every data point was a reminder that behind the numbers are real people, real families, and real communities that deserve better.
I came to this role believing that Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis is not beyond our reach. With the right intervention, it can be driven down. I leave more convinced of that than ever.
When I arrived, the Coalition’s foundation was already strong. My hope was to build on it, to deepen relationships, sharpen our focus, and help move this work from awareness to action. I am proud of what we have accomplished together. Our 2025 annual report, Sustaining the System that Saves Lives, reflects that progress. It is not a record of any one organization, but of what is possible when committed partners work together to strengthen Philadelphia’s violence intervention ecosystem.
I am confident that the momentum we have built will carry forward. The Coalition is working to determine what it might need in its next chapter, and I have every confidence that our work will be taken to the next level. The mission is too important and the community of partners behind it too committed, for anything less.
I am not walking away from this calling. I will continue to serve on the GVICC Board, and through my work at Temple, I look forward to finding new ways to support the systems and strategies that make communities safer. Philadelphia is my home. This cause remains part of my life’s work.
Thank you for your leadership, your advocacy, and your belief that change is possible. It has been an honor.
Sincerely,
David W. Brown
Philadelphia Is Showing the Nation How to Stop Gun Violence
When national experts gathered for a virtual conversation on the future of community violence intervention on June 17th, they turned to Philadelphia as a model. Deion Sumpter, deputy director of Violence Prevention Initiatives for the City of Philadelphia, joined practitioners from Oakland and researchers from the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) and the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab to discuss one of the most urgent questions in public safety: How do you identify and reach the small number of people most likely to be involved in gun violence before the next shooting happens?
His answer was grounded in years of hard-won experience on the ground in Philadelphia. “Less than one percent of our population has been connected to a large share of the violence we’ve had within the city,” Sumpter said. “That allows us to really put an intentional focus in our efforts on that small number of people who are most likely to be impacted by gun violence.”
That precision is not incidental. It is the result of a deliberate shift in strategy, one that required Philadelphia to slow down, gather better intelligence about group dynamics and social networks, and redirect resources away from broad outreach toward the individuals driving cycles of retaliation. The payoff has been measurable: fewer shootings, more efficient use of limited public dollars, and a model that researchers say reflects best practices in the field.
Meeting People Where They Are
- Outreach often takes weeks, sometimes months, before a high-risk individual accepts help
- Workers show up consistently, building trust over time
- Immediate needs come first: housing, transportation
- Deeper engagement follows only after those basics are addressed
The research backs Philadelphia up. A new report from NICJR and Penn’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab confirms that in cities across the country, more than half of homicides are connected to social networks representing under one percent of the population. Violence is not random. It is concentrated, predictable and interruptable, if you know who to reach.
Sumpter described what that reach actually looks like for Philadelphia’s outreach workers: weeks and sometimes months of showing up before a high-risk individual accepts help, meeting people where they are, addressing immediate needs like housing or transportation before deeper engagement becomes possible. Patience and persistence, he said, are not soft values. They are the operational requirements of effective intervention.
“This is exactly the kind of work the Civic Coalition to Save Lives was built to sustain,” said David Brown, executive director of the Coalition. “Intervention is not charity. It is infrastructure, as essential to public safety as any other system a city funds. Philadelphia’s presence on a national stage, held alongside Oakland and anchored by rigorous research, is evidence that this city has built something worth investing in.”
Watch the NICJR’s webinar, Identifying High Risk Populations for a Public Health Approach to Community Violence Intervention, here.
The Power of Intervention Before the Trigger Is Pulled
At HOPE Symposium, intervention leaders share lessons in reaching people before crisis hits
A discussion during the HOPE Symposium 2026 led by the Coalition’s Executive Director David W. Brown and Valencia Peterson, founder and CEO of Open Door Abuse Awareness and Prevention (ODAAP), addressed experiences of community violence and the daily work of intervention including: helping people navigate conflict, process trauma, and make different decisions in moments that can alter the course of their lives.
The community convening was hosted June 10 and 11 by Intercultural Family Services. During a session on the second day of the event, participants described the skills that matter most in high-pressure moments: slowing down instead of reacting, knowing when to walk away and thinking through consequences before acting. They also spoke about the trauma that often sits beneath anger or aggression, and the importance of trusted adults who ask “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?”
For Coach V, Bey, Jones and Brown, the conversation reflected a shared belief that runs through their work: Intervention is the work of reaching people before a conflict escalates, before retaliation occurs, and before a split-second decision changes lives forever. It happens through relationships, credible messengers and consistent presence in the lives of young people most at risk.
ICYMI
News Roundup: Spotlight on Intervention
Each month, we feature news stories from Philadelphia and beyond that highlight the power of intervention—showcasing programs, research, and community efforts working to prevent violence, support those at highest risk, and build safer neighborhoods through proven, people-centered strategies.
